If I had sex after ovulation, are there any benefits to taking the morning-after pill, e.g. Ella, to prevent pregnancy?

Doctor's Answer

Photo of Dr Wenus Ho
Dr Wenus Ho

Aesthetic, General Practitioner

The primary mechanism by how the morning-after pill works is to delay or prevent ovulation, hence taking the pill after ovulation will mean the pill is much less effective. However, I will generally still advise my patient to take the pill to prevent any unwanted pregnancy if there was unprotected sex because of the following reasons:

  1. We can estimate when ovulation happens, which is about 14 days after your period for a usual menstrual cycle of 28 days, but we are unable to say for certainty when it actually occurs. As such, there is always a chance that your estimation of your ovulation phase is inaccurate, leading to the possibility of pregnancy.
  2. Other factors like stress, exercise, etc can affect your hormonal balance and lead to inaccuracies in your ovulation as well

In view of the above, if there was unprotected intercourse, I would still recommend the morning-after pill which should be taken as soon as possible, up to a maximum of 5 days after intercourse, in the case of Ella. If menses is missed, a pregnancy test should still be performed.

If long term contraception is required, do speak to your family physician regarding other contraceptive options.

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